Rick,
This article was posted on another thread, and I think it's excellent.
by Leonard Pitts Jr. of the Miami Herald
<
< We'll go forward from this moment
<
< It's my job to have something to say.
< They pay me to provide words that help make sense of
that which troubles the
< American soul. But in this moment of airless shock when
hot tears sting
< disbelieving eyes, the only thing I can find to say,
the only words that
< seem to fit, must be addressed to the unknown author of
this suffering.
<
< You monster. You beast. You unspeakable #######.
<
< What lesson did you hope to teach us by your coward's
attack on our World
< Trade Center, our Pentagon, us? What was it you hoped
we would learn?
< Whatever it was, please know that you failed.
< Did you want us to respect your cause? You just damned
your cause.
< Did you want to make us fear? You just steeled our
resolve.
< Did you want to tear us apart? You just brought us
together.
<
< Let me tell you about my people. We are a vast and
quarrelsome family, a
< family rent by racial, social, political and class
division, but a family
< nonetheless. We're frivolous, yes, capable of expending
tremendous emotional
< energy on pop cultural minutiae -- a singer's revealing
dress, a ball team's
< misfortune, a cartoon mouse. We're wealthy, too,
spoiled by the ready
< availability of trinkets and material goods, and maybe
because of that, we
< walk through life with a certain sense of blithe
entitlement. We are
< fundamentally decent, though -- peace-loving and
compassionate. We struggle
< to know the right thing and to do it. And we are, the
overwhelming majority
< of us, people of faith, believers in a just and loving
God.
<
< Some people -- you, perhaps -- think that any or all of
this makes us weak.
< You're mistaken. We are not weak. Indeed, we are strong
in ways that cannot
< be measured by arsenals.
<
< IN PAIN
< Yes, we're in pain now. We are in mourning and we are
in shock. We're still
< grappling with the unreality of the awful thing you
did, still working to
< make ourselves understand that this isn't a special
effect from some
< Hollywood blockbuster, isn't the plot development from
a Tom Clancy novel.
< Both in terms of the awful scope of their ambition and
the probable final
< death toll, your attacks are likely to go down as the
worst acts of
< terrorism in the history of the United States and,
probably, the history of
< the world. You've bloodied us as we have never been
bloodied before.
<
< But there's a gulf of difference between making us
bloody and making us
< fall. This is the lesson Japan was taught to its bitter
sorrow the last time
< anyone hit us this hard, the last time anyone brought
us such abrupt and
< monumental pain. When roused, we are righteous in our
outrage, terrible in
< our force. When provoked by this level of barbarism, we
will bear any
< suffering, pay any cost, go to any length, in the
pursuit of justice.
<
< I tell you this without fear of contradiction. I know
my people, as you, I
< think, do not. What I know reassures me. It also causes
me to tremble with
< dread of the future.
<
< In the days to come, there will be recrimination and
accusation, fingers
< pointing to determine whose failure allowed this to
happen and what can be
< done to prevent it from happening again. There will be
heightened security,
< misguided talk of revoking basic freedoms. We'll go
forward from this moment
< sobered, chastened, sad. But determined, too.
Unimaginably determined.
<
< THE STEEL IN US
< You see, the steel in us is not always readily
apparent. That aspect of our
< character is seldom understood by people who don't know
us well. On this
< day, the family's bickering is put on hold.
<
< As Americans we will weep, as Americans we will mourn,
and as Americans, we
< will rise in defense of all that we cherish.
<
< So I ask again: What was it you hoped to teach us? It
occurs to me that
< maybe you just wanted us to know the depths of your
hatred. If that's the
< case, consider the message received. And take this
message in exchange: You
< don't know my people. You don't know what we're capable
of. You don't know
< what you just started.
<
< But you're about to learn. |
